Herbs, perennial, 5-35 cm tall or more, caespitose; rhizome short, branched. Stems several, erect or ascending, simple or rarely branched, green or purplish below, ± densely villous-hirsute, especially in upper part, strigillose, eglandular. Leaves: surfaces strigose, eglandular, margin entire, strigose; basal rosulate, present at anthesis, long petiolate, blade oblong-oblanceolate or oblanceolate, sometimes obovate or elliptic, 1-16 × 0.4-1.6 cm, base attenuate, apex acute to obtuse; cauline 7-17, subclasping, apex acute, lower long winged petiolate, blade lanceolate or oblanceolate, mid and upper sessile, blade lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 0.7-15 × 1.5-1.7 cm. Capitula 13-15 × 23-35(-42) mm, solitary. Involucre hemispheric, 7-9 × 15-22 mm; phyllaries 3-seriate, subequal, green and apically purplish, linear-lanceolate, 7-9 × 0.7-1 mm, slightly exceeding disk florets, leaflike, apex acute or acuminate, ± densely villous-hirsute, innermost margin narrowly scarious (if at all), erose. Ray florets 3-seriate, orange, sometimes yellow to brick-red, 7.8-12 mm, tube ca. 2.5 mm, sparsely hairy, lamina 1-1.4 mm wide, flat; disk florets yellow, 4-5.5 mm, hairy, tube ca. 0.8 mm, limb narrowly funnelform to cylindric-funnelform, lobes triangular, ca. 0.5 mm. Achenes oblong, compressed, ca. 2 mm, strigose. Pappus 2-seriate, outer bristles ca. 0.5 mm, inner 3.5-6 mm. Fl. Jul-Sep.

Forest margins, alpine meadows; 2100-3400 m. N Xinjiang [Kazakhstan].